Exhaustion
by CanaryCry
Summary: Dick's running himself ragged keeping up his work as Nightwing while trying to hold down a day job as a police officer. Wally's tired of watching his boyfriend pull himself in too many directions at once. Birdflash, set in an indefinite future.


**A/N: Based on two prompts from the Fuck Yeah! Character Development tumblr: "One member of the ship has a profession that the other doesn't approve of. Does it cause frequent arguments? Is there a reason for their disapproval?" and "Your ship decides to take a shower/bath together."**

* * *

Officer Dick Grayson fumbled with the keys to his apartment, stifling a yawn. Last night's patrol as Nightwing had ended with an hours-long pursuit of a few small-time Gotham crooks who had apparently decided to drive Blüdhaven's vigilante insane. They'd entrenched themselves so well that it had taken Nightwing until dawn to track them down, a little fact he had no intention of sharing with his family ever. They'd never let him live it down. As a result, he'd barely shoved his face into the pillow before the alarm screamed at him to get up for work.

Several cups of coffee inhaled in a haste had restored his functionality well enough until about an hour before the end of his shift, at which time he kept himself awake with an entire box of donuts. He probably hadn't eaten a single healthy thing all day, another fact he wasn't going to share with the family ever. Bruce would probably make him go on some detox diet or sneak into his apartment and replace all the sugary food with celery.

Dick finally managed to summon the motor control to unlock his door and half-stumbled inside, hanging up the belt carrying his already unloaded gun on the peg nearby. He moved toward the kitchen in a daze, hoping for a bowl of cereal to perk him up enough that he wouldn't fall asleep in the shower before finally letting himself collapse into bed for a few hours until patrol.

"Dude."

Dick jumped, nearly staggering into the wall. Wally was sprawled on the couch, eyeing Dick with a narrow-eyed gaze he usually reserved for when Dick had done something needlessly dangerous.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" said Dick.

"I had the day off," Wally replied. "If you were getting more than five minutes of sleep a night, you would've remembered that."

Dick _so_ didn't have the energy to deal with this right now. "Look, just say whatever you're gonna say, as long as you can say it while I'm eating." He finally entered the kitchen, where he'd left the cereal box, bowl and spoon on the table that morning when he'd had to leave in a hurry. He rinsed out the bowl and poured more of the sugary cornflakes in, snagging the milk from the fridge. He wasn't alert enough to really care about water screwing up the delicate balance of the union between cereal and milk.

Wally leaned against the counter while Dick started eating. "I don't think you should go out on patrol tonight, Dick."

"You say that like I have a choice," Dick said between mouthfuls.

"Blüdhaven can take care of itself for one night." Wally's expression narrowed further. "You're spreading yourself too thin, you know. You don't need to put yourself in the line of fire twenty-four-seven. You don't even need a job, technically. You're already got enough money to never have to work again."

"It's not my money," Dick said irritably, refilling his bowl.

Wally rolled his eyes. "It's your trust fund, Dick. That makes it your money. There's nothing wrong with using it. But, look, that's beside the point. You don't need this job and you already take care of the city as Nightwing. Let the cops do their job during the day."

"Two-thirds of the city cops are corrupt, Wally." Dick carefully measured out some more milk. "Nightwing can't do his job properly until that's taken care of."

"But do you really have to try and do that from the inside? Aren't you still a rookie?"

"It's a work-in-progress Wally," Dick said irritably. "It's not something we can solve overnight."

"We?"

"Did you seriously think I was trying to bring down the corrupt infrastructure of the police force all by myself? I'm ambitious, Wally, not stupid."

"I know you're not." Wally's expression finally opened up a little. "I'm just worried about you, okay? You barely have time for me anymore and I can't for the life of me remember the last time you weren't exhausted." He snatched up Dick's bowl the instant he finished eating and dumped it in the sink. "I just… look. We've been together for a while now, you know, back before you decided to drive yourself insane by fighting crime around the clock. I… miss being around you."

Dick groaned and rested his forehead on the table. "Wally…"

"No. Listen to me." Wally poked Dick's cheek, making the younger man glare up at him. "I'm not the only person worried about you. Bruce has been—"

"Bruce has no idea what's really going on around here," Dick interrupted, turned his head enough to meet Wally's eyes. "He's got a good working relationship with Gotham's police commissioner. Our commissioner wants me dead."

"Then don't you think it's dangerous to… I don't know… _parade_ yourself around right under his nose?" Wally tried. "You've got to be careful you're not _too_ good a cop or people will get suspicious that a rich kid from Gotham can come into the force with little prior law enforcement experience and—"

"You don't need to remind me. I haven't forgotten." Dick was unable to stop a jaw-cracking yawn. "I need to get everything ready for tonight so I can grab a couple hours of sleep." He got up, slipping past Wally and out of the kitchen.

"Dick," Wally all but whined, following him to the bathroom. "Please."

Dick pulled off his shirt, tossing it into the laundry hamper Alfred had gifted him a few months back. "Wally, I don't have time for this."

"Are you going to make me physically stop you from going out tonight?" Wally said, grabbing Dick's wrists. "You're dead on your feet, babe. You could get yourself hurt if you try to work like this."

Dick could've broken Wally's hold if he really wanted to, but that wouldn't have been particularly productive. "I'm not quitting the force, Wally."

"Is that a _yet_ I hear you implying?"

"Look, I'll… think about it." Dick leaned into Wally's chest, shutting his eyes. "Once we've dealt with the corruption."

"And what about staying in tonight?"

"I can't."

"What if I called up the other bats and asked someone to fill in for you?" Wally offered. "I can tell them you're sick if it's a matter of pride. Tim and Cass have patrolled the city before."

"I don't know," Dick murmured. "Tim's got his hands full helping Bruce and Cass is still pretty new."

"Yeah, but she's got more experience than most of us. Come on, Dick, work with me."

Dick let out a grunt. "Fine."

Wally kissed the top of his head. "Thank you. I'll ask Babs to get a hold of them."

"She's not your secretary, Wally."

"Yeah, yeah. She's just as worried about you as I am. Besides, I want to spend some time taking care of you." His eyebrow waggle was practically audible. Dick huffed out a tired laugh and pushed himself away.

"Maybe after a shower and a nap." He toed off his shoes and set them aside, his socks quickly following. Wally threw him a grin and left the room to make his phone call.

Despite having been bullied into taking the night off, Dick still really needed that shower, so he hopped in while Wally was still on the phone. The stream of hot water almost had him nodding off right there. He lost track of the next few minutes and only roused when he heard the bathroom door open and shut again.

"Barbara's on the case," Wally said. "So, uh, mind if I join you?"

"Come in. Just don't expect sex when I'm this tired."

"Aha!" Wally opened the shower door, already naked. "You admit you're tiring yourself out!"

"You're insufferable. Get in and close the door before you let the cold air in." Dick's eyes were halfway closed again. He was probably going to fall asleep in the shower for real and Wally would have to catch him and that would just be embarrassing as hell.

With the door firmly shut again, Wally snaked his arms around Dick's lean waist, pulling him back until the younger man's back was pressed against his chest.

"I forgot how malleable you get when you're sleepy," Wally said fondly.

Dick snorted. "Malleable?"

"Don't judge me."

"I'll take it as a compliment, I guess." The base of Dick's skull rested against Wally's shoulder; he'd done some last-minute growing over the past year or two, but then Wally had suddenly decided to give one last growth spurt before stopping at last.

"You're the best," Wally said, catching Dick's earlobe between his teeth. "Well, you are when you're not running yourself into the ground trying to do everything. You've got to trust other people to pull their weight."

Dick groaned and aimed a weak swatting motion in the general direction of Wally's face. "No more lectures or you don't get any more cuddles."

"You drive a hard bargain, Grayson."

"Shut it, West."


End file.
